Chapter One
God's Word for YouFor this commandment which I command you this day is not too
difficult for you, nor is it far off.
Deuteronomy 30:11
I Will Not Quit
So often, someone will come to me for advice and prayer, and when I
tell them what the Word of God says, or what I think the Holy Spirit
is saying, their response is, "I know that's right; God has been
showing me the same thing. But, Joyce, it's just too hard." It is
one of the most commonly expressed excuses I hear from people.
When I initially began to see from the Word of God how I was
supposed to live and behave, and compared it to where I was, I also
said, "I want to do things Your way, God, but it is so hard." God
graciously showed me this is a lie the enemy tries to inject into
our minds to get us to give up. God's commandments are not too
difficult or too far away.
Walking in obedience to God is not too difficult because He has
given His Spirit to work in us powerfully and to help us in all He
has asked of us (John 14:16). He is in us and with us all the time
to enable us to do what we cannot do, and to do with ease what would
be hard without Him!
Things get hard when we try to do them independently without leaning
on and relying on God's grace.
God's Word for You
When Pharaoh let the people go, God led them not by way of the land
of the Philistines, although that was nearer; for God said, Lest the
people change their purpose when they see war and return to Egypt.
Exodus 13:17
For no temptation (no trial regarded as enticing to sin, no matter
how it comes or where it leads) has overtaken you and laid hold on
you that is not common to man [that is, no temptation or trial has
come to you that is beyond human resistance and that is not adjusted
and adapted and belonging to human experience, and such as man can
bear]. But God is faithful [to His Word and to His compassionate
nature], and He [can be trusted] not to let you be tempted and tried
and assayed beyond your ability and strength of resistance and power
to endure, but with the temptation He will [always] also provide the
way out (the means of escape to a landing place), that you may be
capable and strong and powerful to bear up under it patiently.
1 Corinthians 10:13
His Way Is Not Too Hard
God led the Children of Israel on a longer, harder route in the
wilderness because He knew they were not ready for the battles they
would face in possessing the Promised Land. He needed to do a work
in their lives first, teaching them Who He was and that they could
not depend on themselves.
You can be assured that anywhere God leads you, He is able to keep
you. He never allows more to come on us than we can bear. We do not
have to live in a constant struggle if we learn to lean on Him
continually for the strength we need.
If you know God has asked you to do something, don't back down
because it gets hard. When things get hard, spend more time with
Him, lean more on Him, and receive more grace from Him (Hebrews
4:16). Grace is the power of God coming to you at no cost, to do
through you what you cannot do by yourself.
God knows that the easy way is not always the best way for us.
That's why it is so important that we not lose heart, grow weary,
and faint.
Satan knows that if he can defeat us in our mind, he can defeat us
in our experience.
(Continues.)
